We've seen a huge increase in fraudulent debit card transactions since Thanksgiving. Most of them are being credited to either card processor breaches or skimming devices being used to record the card information when swiped through a handheld card reader. That card information is then used to duplicate cards that are in your possession and use them for charges across the country - we've seen a considerable amount of charges from the New York/New Jersey area.

Most cards, especially bank debit cards, aren't equipped with the RFID technology, mostly just the credit cards. I don't see these types of compromises going away anytime soon, especially as the economy shows little sign of recovery in the near future. The best advice we're giving our customers is to check their accounts on a very regular basis and if anything unauthorized is seen contact us to shut the cards down immediately. The good news is that most card issuers monitor for a number of possible fraudulent indicators and will notify you if something is seen.

It's not an easy time. Since around Thanksgiving we've eaten over $30,000 in losses, and we're a small community bank with 4 branches.